Angry Birds Movie Review

When an island populated by happy, flightless birds is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to three unlikely outcasts – Red (Sudeikis), Chuck (Gad) and Bomb (McBride) – to figure out what the pigs are up to. (Source: IMDB)

The Good

Film adaptations of video games have a bit of a bad reputation, so I was naturally a bit sceptical of this when I first heard about it. Then the trailer genuinely made me laugh, and I started to wonder, maybe it’ll be quite good after all?

Turns out, yeah, it is actually pretty good! Now this isn’t the life-affirming, first class animation you can expect from Disney Pixar, or the top drawer Dreamworks offerings (basically just How to Train your Dragon), but it is a real crowd pleaser of a film; something that the kids will undoubtedly love, but yet enough for the parents. It’s also rare to find an animated film that will appeal to kids of all ages, some are far too simplistic to keep older children interested, and some are a bit too complex with things that will go over young children’s heads; Angry Birds Movie strikes the balance perfectly!

In fact, there is more for the adults than I thought there would be, and it easily passed the Mark Kermode “six laugh test”. There’s also plenty of fun background jokes, to make a repeated viewing worthwhile. If you have kids take them to see it, and then try and leave them at home if you watch it again so you can laugh at the slightly more risque jokes without having to explain something to a bewildered child! Don’t be put off by the first fifteen minutes or so; you will have seen all of these jokes in the trailer, but it has plenty more to offer after that!

The story is pretty basic, but this film wasn’t made with me in mind, it was made with kids in mind, so I can’t take any issue with this! Had it not been so consistently funny throughout, then it could have been more of a concern, but thankfully the laughs roll in at a relentless pace. I was pleasantly surprised by how cleverly it worked in references to the game, where there was a high risk of it seeming contrived. Pretty much everyone has played Angry Birds, so you’ll find plenty to love here. I particularly liked how it used the original music from the game, was a really simple but nice touch.

The Bad

It seems to be a staple of kids films these days, but I really could’ve done without the song and dance numbers! Unless they form an important part of the plot, they always just seem like a lazy way of filling in some time, but this is a minor grievance really.

The main characters in this are all great, and there’s some excellent minor characters as well (the “mime” is my favourite and you’ll see why when you see the film!), but at times it felt a little too busy. With so many different characters fighting for screen time, it often tried to make callbacks to things which had happened earlier in the film, and these jokes didn’t always land with me. Apart from the mime, he was hilarious!

The Verdict

I saw this movie and you should too. This film isn’t going to change your life, but it is relentlessly action packed and very funny, so it is hard not to be entertained. Truly a film for all ages, this gets a big thumbs up from me!

Agree with everything I’ve said, or am I a terribly misguided idiot who has got it all wrong? Please let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to share as well.